The invention relates to a method for encapsulating parts of elements into a plastic material to manufacture electronic components, which parts are contained in one or more parallel rows into the mould cavities of a mould, in which plastic material is injected through one or more sprues.
Methods for encapsulating parts of elements into plastic material are known. In the state of the art a number of moulds are positioned around a central press cylinder, from which plastic material is through long sprues supplied to the moulds. Said moulds have a large number of aligned mould cavities and after opening the mould sections, a strip of elements to be encapsulated are placed into the moulds by hand. That implies, that these sections have to be separated from the strip, that the moulds have to be opened for taking out a treated section by hand and for placing therein a new section to be treated, resulting into a long cycle period. Furthermore long sprues are necessary also outside the moulds, for which a large amount of plastic material is necessary. After opening the moulds it is frequently necessary to clean the moulds. During a production period of for instance seven hours the cleaning operation has to be carried out several times.